In 2014 the world's oceans swelled, major greenhouse gases that fuel global warming hit record highs and the planet's surface temperature reached its hottest point in 135 years, international researchers said Thursday.

Phytoplankton have been projected to produce less organic material as the oceans' temperatures rise—with carry-on effects for higher levels of the food web. Based on new climate model simulations, a team of scientists from ...

When Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution by natural selection in 1859, the world hadn't even heard of plate tectonics. The notion that continents drifted on molten rock currents deep in the Earth's mantle was ...

NASA's Aqua satellite flew over Hurricane Dolores in the Eastern Pacific Ocean as it continued to move away from the southwestern coast of Mexico. Dolores was still a Category 4 hurricane and was generating rough surf and ...

Between January and March this year, 257 farmers committed suicides just in the state of Maharashtra, India, according to an article published on June 27. These farmers, taking the brunt of an untimely rain and hailstorms, ...

For much of the past decade, a puzzle has been confounding the climate science community. Nearly all of the measurable indicators of global climate change—such as sea level, ice cover on land and sea, atmospheric carbon ...

Tropical Storm Ela was born in the western-most part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean but has become the Central Pacific's first named storm. NASA's Aqua satellite took a look at the storm that's already battling wind shear to ...

Ocean

An ocean (from Greek Ωκεανός, Okeanos (Oceanus)) is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ppt.